Tutorial: Optimising DD-WRT Firmware

Step 1: To access the setup page of your wi-fi router after you have flashed the DD-WRT firmware, you need to open your browser and type 192.168.1.1 and press enter. You will first be asked to enter a username and password which you will be asked henceforth to access the settings page of your router. After you enter a username and password, press change password to continue.

Step 2: The first page which opens by default is the Status page of the router and shows the current status of your router.

Step 3: After this users should click the setup page and setup their Wi-fi router so as to use it properly with their existing DSL connection.

Under the Network Setup category, you can change the Local IP Address to whatever you desire. From next time if you want to enter the settings page of your Router, you should enter the IP Address which you have entered here. I recommend changing the default Local IP Address so as to avoid the conflict of the Local IP Address between your Wi-fi router and your ADSL Modems, as the settings page of most of the ADSL modems can be accessed only via 192.168.1.1. Make the required changes and leave other things on their default value and click on “Apply Settings”. Keep in mind that the “Apply Settings” option saves the settings of the router permanently by writing it to the NVRAM of the router whereas the “Save” option only saves the changes you made to the settings page temporarily.

Step 4: After you have saved your settings and your router has rebooted, you need to go to the Wireless page on your router settings page. Make sure that the Wireless Mode is set to AP which stands for Access Point. If all your devices will be using only the b or g wifi network, then select the respective option from Wireless Network Mode. Keep in mind that wireless g is faster than b but most of the old devices don’t support wireless g network. Enter a proper name for your Wifi network under the Wireless Network Name (SSID). The Wireless Channel option allows you to select which frequency your wifi router should use. You need to play around with this option from time to time as you need to make sure that you use a totally isolated frequency so as to get the maximum wireless network range possible. The more wifi networks present in your area using the same Wireless Channel as your wifi router, the less will be the network range of your wifi router. If you want keep your Wifi network hidden, select ‘Disable’ under Wireless SSID Broadcast or vice-versa. After making the necessary changes, don’t forget to save your changes by clicking on “Apply Settings”.

Step 5: After this you need to go to the Wireless Security tab under the Wireless page. There you will find the required options to protect your wifi network. It is highly recommended that you protect your wifi network so as to prevent unauthorised usage of your Internet.

Keep in mind that you must chose from Disable, WEP, WPA Personal, WPA Enterprise, or RADIUS. Also make sure that all the wifi devices in your network use the same security mode. Keep a note of the pass phrase which you get or set as you need to enter the pass phrase in all your wifi enabled devices when they connect to the wifi network for the first time.

Step 6: After this go to the Advanced Settings tab under the wireless page. Disable the CTS Protection Mode and WMM (Wireless Multimedia Support). Keep the rest of the settings at their default values. One interesting option to note here is the ‘TX Power’ option. This option allows you to increase the amount of power supplied to the wireless antenna’s of your wifi router. Increasing the TX Power to a certain extent may increase the range of your wifi network but if you set a value too high, your router may burn.

Step 7: Another interesting and useful option present in the DD-WRT firmware is that it allows you to restart your wifi router after a certain period of time or on a fixed time everyday or maybe on a fixed day every week. To access this useful option you need to click on Administration->Keep Alive.

Make the required changes according to your needs and then click on Apply Settings.

I hope this tutorial of mine will allow you to extract the maximum from your wireless router. If you guys have any doubt, please feel free to leave a comment so that I can help you.